Friday, September 29, 2017

Chuck Frank's Second Video: Cheap Grace

As you may know, my father's health is declining. He is under the care of hospice, he's losing weight rapidly, and he sleeps nearly all of the time.

I've had a grueling work week and am using every moment of my spare time to be with my mother and my father.

I watched the second Chuck Frank video some time ago, but have not had an opportunity to comment on it until now.

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Please take this to heart:

Shortly after my first...of now many...viewings of it, my impression was that Chuck is, through his definition of an "authentic disciple," preaching cheap grace.

Here is Chuck's definition of a disciple, taken directly from his second video:

"An authentic disciple cares about people, cares about Jesus, cares about God, cares about everything that is going on in people's lives and wants to help people get to know God personally."

"Cares?" Right. "Cares!"

Based on what Jesus taught and did in the Gospels, this is absolutely and entirely perverse.

As a lover of Jesus and His life and teaching, I'm trying not to be unnecessarily cruel toward Chuck, but do you think Chuck has ever heard of the Great Commandment?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind? And, love your neighbor as yourself?

"Love!"

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Gang,

Jesus actually said that unless a person hates his father and mother that person isn't worthy of Him.

Chuck dilutes that powerful teaching of Jesus to the point that Chuck defines authentic discipleship as being, simply, a caring person.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer had a way of describing what Chuck believes and teaches. Bonhoeffer called it, "Cheap Grace."

Cheap Grace is "the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap Grace is Grace without discipleship, Grace without the cross, Grace without Jesus Christ."

For Chuck, though, an authentic disciple is, merely, someone who cares.

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To be fair to Chuck, what he's preaching has been packed into the false gospel the CGGC Shepherd Mafia been doling out for decades.

What Chuck's done is spell it out concisely and clearly and preserved it on a video.

This lukewarm "Gospel of caring" our hierarchs have been preaching...

...as I've been saying...

...continues to be unblessed by the Lord.

We must change what we think and believe. We must repent.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

The Spiritual Reason the ERC Strategic Plan will Fail

From the early chapters of the Gospel of Matthew on, a central message of Jesus and His early followers...the core of the gospel...is that from emotional pain and spiritual grief and sorrow comes blessing.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness..."

"Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation..."

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. "

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From my experience, living almost all of my life closely enmeshed in institutionalized Christianity, when people gifted to be shepherds consolidate power atop a once thriving religious movement, they drive out, in the gentlest way, what remains of apostolic and prophetic giftedness.

And, what remains is a temperate, civilized, sophisticated and bland and calm misrepresentation of the Way intiated by the One Who fashioned a whip with His own hands to drive people out of the temple and who once commanded the disciple upon whom He said, "I will build my church," "Get thee behind me, Satan!"

The Jesus touted in the ERC these days has been miniaturized. He's pathetic and small compared to the One presented in the Word.

The ERC's Jesus is a caricature of Jesus of Nazareth. He's been tamed. He IS tame. He's a cosmic good guy...

...a Forest Gump-like figure more likely to tell you that life is like a box of chocolates than He is to teach that, on the Day, those who don't sacrifice for the benefit of the hungry and homeless among the least of these will be sent away into eternal punishment.

Their Jesus doesn't promote spiritual grief or godly sorrow. He knows nothing about working out one's salvation with either fear or trembling.

Their Jesus, particularly in the new New Strategic Plan, if He ever talks about God's Kingdom at all does so only after pastors and churches are healthy.

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And, this, more than anything else, is why there is...

... no chance in heaven,

...that the Lord will empower this plan and that it will revitalize our once flourishing and blessed movement.

There is narry a drop of spiritual poverty among ERC mountaintoppers, nor spiritual grief.

There is, I believe, fear...and perhaps even trembling.

But the fear and trembling is not over the hierarchs' own salvation or for the souls of the people in their churches...

...it is fear of the increasing likelihood that their institution, their fiefdom, their hierarchy will fail.

There is no spiritual connection between the Gospel preached by Jesus and the plans, in 2017, of the ERC hierarchs.

We must become poor in spirit. We must mourn. We must become meek. We must hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We must repent.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Institutional Narcissism among ERC Leaders

As the ERC gathered in session in 2015, I was using this blog to express important and passionate misgivings about leadership's, then, new Strategic Plan which Kevin, Dave and Chuck presented with fanfare and optimism and which Conference delegates approved unanimously.

As the Conference gathered in 2015, we, here at Faith, were pouring our energy and passion into putting into action the CGGC's Vision Statement which values churches that multiply.

It was as Conference sessions were ending in 2015 that the Administrative Council was called together to consider the recommendation of the Standing Committee that my credentials be recalled. The Administrative Council unanimously accepted that recommendation.

I enthusiastically embrace CGGC doctrine and and our ministry was not only supporting CGGC Mission and Vision, it was putting them into action.

From my perspective, the action of the Administrative Council was extreme...

...yet, at the time, leadership was so convinced of the value of the 2015 Strategic Plan and the support of the plan had been unanimous...

...and my opposition to it was so passionate and outspoken, that even I can understand the frustration of people who believed in that plan.

That was then. This is now.

Since then, leadership has dropped the old New Strategic Plan of 2015 like it was hot potato.

And, starting last week as far as I know, Chuck Frank began calling himself the new ERC Director of Multiplication.

Now...

...ERC leaders all acknowledge that the 2015 Strategic Plan has been a bust and now promote the very notion of church multiplication that we were practicing when they, through the Standing Committee, attacked my credentials.

So, why aren't ERC hierarchs hailing me as a hero and as the one and only person in the Conference who saw the future back in 2015?

The answer? Institutional Narcissism.

Narcissists believe that the world revolve around them.

My sin in 2015?

It had nothing to do with church doctrine. And, it can not have had anything at all to do with practicing what the CGGC stands for.

My sin in 2015 is that I refused to believe that the world revolves around ERC leaders and I could not and would not support that plan...

...even though I felt great affection for all of the guys on the top of the ERC mountain.

Why am I not being credited for seeing the truth about the old New Strategic Plan?

Because I, apparently, am the one and only person in the Conference to criticize the new New Strategic Plan...

...and institutional narcissism still reigns in the ERC.

My sin in 2015 was that I criticized leadership and, even though everyone now acknowledges that the truth I proclaimed was, well, true, because I still proclaim that the world doesn't revolve around ERC leadership, I am persona non grata.

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Gang,

Jesus is Lord.

The world doesn't revolve around ERC leadership.

To think it does is sin.

We must repent.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Has ERC Leadership "Lost the Locker Room?"

It's an expression that comes from sports.

It describes a situation in which the coach of a team has lost the capacity to lead a team because his leadership has been rejected by the players.

The players will still take the field. They'll run the plays or, at least, play the positions the coach puts them in but do it without conviction or serious effort, orexpectation of victory.

Sometimes the players will grumble openly about the coach and his methods. Sometimes they'll complain quietly among themselves. Other times, there will be increasing apathy as the entire team, from the players on up to the coaching staff, experience loss after loss.

I think that the expression "lost the locker room" has described the ERC for some time.

For how long? From sometime before the 2015 old new Strategic Plan was launched with enthusiasm by ERC leaders (the coaching staff), and unanimously approved by the team, i.e., the Conference in session...

...only to immediately become mere words on a page.

The scant reporting I've received from the Town Hall meetings designed to gin up support, enthusiasm and participation in 2017 new New Strategic Plan suggests that the meetings have been bland and, compared to the meetings to promote the first Strategic Plan, back in Ed's day, poorly attended.

It seems to me that the ERC is on pace to repeat its long history of talking as if the talk is the walk.

Its the story of the coach who has lost the locker room presenting the game plan and posting the line up when it was inevitable that the team would simply go through the motions with no expectation that it might even possibly win.

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Can a lost locker room be won back?

I don't know.

I've been following sports since I was a four year old sitting on grandpa Sloat's knee listening to the radio and, occasionally, watching TV as the Phillies drudged their way through 100+ loss seasons one after another.

I suppose its possible to win back a lost locker room...

...but I've seen a lot of locker rooms lost and, honestly, can't recall one that was redeemed.

It may happen, but it doesn't happen often.

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I will say this.

I noted in an earlier post, in a comment directed to Kevin, Dave and Chuck specifically, that many people in the ERC disrespect them but that the disrespect is directed more toward what they represent than to them personally.

And, in that, there may be a chance to win back the lost locker room.

But, ERC leaders are not doing the things that will win the locker room back for them...

...for us, too.

There can be no future for the ERC without repentance.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

CHRISTIAN POPULISM: Who the CGGC Cynics Are, And Where They came from

Gang,

What follows is oversimplified, and to do the issue justice, warrants a book-length treatment. 

Please understand, I don't side with the group I call cynics. Cynicism doesn't issue from love.

But, what they believe in has the deepest possible roots in the Church of God. It's not going away. At least, it hasn't yet.

And, if peace is not made, considering the degree the CGGC has declined, it could be fatal to the body.

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I've been making the point lately that a fairly large portion of the CGGC is cynical about any and everything denominational and conference leaders do, that those people don't ever follow leadership when it attempts to lead and that, as the CGGC's decline continues, that cynicism has become a genuine and serious threat to the continued existence of the denomination.

The off the blog reaction I'm receiving to those thoughts suggests to me that people, across the ERC at least, take those observations as a given...that what I say about the cynics and cynicism in the ERC is accurate.

I have a theory to explain who the cynics are and how they came to be.

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Before I describe my theory regarding the pastors and churches who defiantly ignore leadership's attempts to lead, though, I will note that cynicism in the CGGC is everywhere and it points in every direction.

I used to hang around the mountaintops of the CGGC and the ERC. As much as I love the individuals on the mountaintops, I know that many of the people in CGGC leadership are everybit as disrespectful and disdainful of the people I'm calling cynics as the cynics are of the hierarchs.

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The beliefs and passions of the cynics of the CGGC, and particularly of the cynics of the ERC, trace back to one important element of the core teachings and practices of John Winebrenner and the men and women who joined him in ministry in the first generation of the Church of God when the Church of God was a dynamic, Spirit-empowered movement. 

IN THIS RESPECT, IT IS ACTUALLY THE CYNICS IN THE CGGC WHO CARRY A KEY MARKER OF THE DNA OF WINEBRENNER AND THE FOUNDERS OF OUR ONCE THRIVING MOVEMENT. 

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Key to what Winebrenner believed, taught and did can be thought of as Christian Populism.

And, the people in the CGGC/ERC who today consistently and passionately, AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, ignore leadership and refuse to follow leaders when they attempt to lead are Christian Populists.

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Winebrenner founded the Church of God on the conviction that authority and power in the church comes solely from the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

He believed that the certainly is human authority in the church...

...but, Winebrenner believed that the Spirit leads through the will of the body...

...so long as the people in the body are living in the power of the Spirit.

This is a form of populism because Winebrenner believed that the Spirit expresses Himself and that the Spirit leads the church through popular opinion...

...through the will of the people of the church...

...that is, through what Winebrenner called the Eldership.

The Church of God movement was formed on the conviction that, humanly speaking, there is wisdom and power available to the church...

...but, Winebrenner believed, the Spirit doesn't lead through leaders who make up an institutional hierarchy.

Winebrenner and his colleagues absolutely believed that the Spirit makes Himself and His will known through the consensus of the most common disciples of Jesus Christ.

More than that...and this is critical to understanding cynicism in the CGGC/ERC in 2017...

...Winebrenner and his colleagues had disdain for...they disrespected...hierarchy in the institutionalized church in other denominations.

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In the movement days, the people of the Church of God...

...HATED...

...the very idea that a Pope or a Bishop or a leader with any title could presume to lead the church body.

Because, as a core conviction, they believed that, humanly speaking, authority and power exists in the church in the wisdom and will of common sinners who have been converted into followers of Jesus.

And that belief about authority in the church lingers in the Church of God to this day.

Winebrenner and his colleagues in ministry planted that core belief into the DNA of the Church of God. 

That belief is alive and well and passionately held in the CGGC and ERC among many even in 2017.

Many people in the CGGC today still believe that, humanly speaking, authority and power exists in the church in the wisdom and will of common believers.

They have an instinctual distrust of people with too much (theological) education and, particularly, people with denominational titles.

As such, they...

...HATE...

...the idea that people who are a part of an institutional hierarchy would presume to strategically plan how the most common of disciples of Jesus Christ should live.

Now, understand...

...some, perhaps many, of those people have never even heard of John Winebrenner.

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I won't say that I understand how it is that values that were the core of what Winebrenner and the first people of the Church of God embraced...

...what they loved...and what they despised...

...still enliven many in the CGGC.

But, I'm aware enough...and honest enough...to see that they do.

What stuns me is that what those first Church of God people embraced fills the hearts of...and defines the instinct of...the people in the CGGC who are cynical about what the CGGC hierarchs believe and do.

As people sharing a central element of the belief and passion of John Winebrenner and the men and women who joined him in ministry...

...Kevin, Dave, even Lance...

...many people in the CGGC don't respect you and even have disdain for you but not for you personally but because of what you represent to them.

You stand for the overthrow of the authority of the Spirit in the CGGC. 

And, that, as you can imagine, makes them cynical about anything and everything you try to do when you present yourselves, not as common believers and servants, but as leaders of the church.

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As a student of Church of God history, that is my theory on why some people always resist why CGGC hierarchs do.

ERC HIERARCHS HOLD FIRST TOWN HALL MEETING ON NEW NEW STRATEGIC PLAN

The ERC people in touch with me are abuzz with chatter about the so-called Town Hall Meetings intended to gin up involvement in and enthusiasm for the new ERC New Strategic Plan.

Just a few notes on the buzz coming my way:

1. The promotion of the meetings was somewhat limited.

People send me the ERC Newsletter. There has been no mention of the meetings there. It's curious to me that these meetings, presumably so crucial to casting vision for the future, were not announced and promoted as widely and enthusiastically as possible.

Notice of the schedule of the meetings was, as far as I can tell, sent out in a Conference email.

Why, do you suppose, the hierarchs are not beating their drums as loudly as possible about these meetings?

Ineptitude?

Lack of boldness and courage?

This is their best chance to call the people of the ERC to walk behind them and into a bright future.

2. The report I received from the first meeting suggests that only 13 people, not on ERC staff, attended and that no one from the largest ministries in the district attended.

But, then, the slim turnout may be a function of the scant promotion of the meeting and not of a lack of interest in the plan.

3. I would not say that the review I read of the plan is negative as much as it is skeptical. Certainly, though, it was far from enthusiastic.

4. From what I'm hearing, the plan amounts to what you might think of as Big Government Church-ism.

It expands the role of the Conference in the lives of the people of the Eldership.

If that's the case, I can't see many of the people of the Conference embracing it.

If God is willing, I will soon publish my theory on who the CGGC cynics are and how they came to be.

Why Big Government Church-ism will fail to capture the imagination of the people of the Eldership will become apparent from that post.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

The Shamelessness of ERC Leadership

I've been hinting that I'm going to present a post describing who the CGGC cynics are and how they came to be, and I am working on that post. I may publish it as soon as tomorrow.

That post identifies a core and essential conviction of the people of the first generation of the Church of God movement and shows that that belief, in a mutated form perhaps, still drives a significant number of the pastors and churches in the CGGC, even if those people have never heard the name, John Winebrenner, as if that belief is in the DNA of the CGGC.

I'm convinced that that "big picture" reality is at the root of much of the dysfunction that paralyzes the CGGC today.

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But, there is another, more immediate reason that many in the CGGC simply roll their eyes at each and every leadership initiative.

In an off the blog exchange about my last post, which summarizes the first Chuck Frank Strategic Plan video, the person who responded to me suggested that I was giving myself too much credit in suggesting that Chuck was plagiarizing me.

I admitted that I wrote parts of the post tongue in cheek.

I'm sure that Chuck was not ripping me off. I doubt he's read anything I've written in years, though it is also clear that at least one person among the ERC hierarchs does keep track of what I write here.

But, the point remains, that what Chuck is saying now parrots what I've been saying for years...

...ON THIS BLOG...

...and, it is what I've been saying on this blog that motivated the ERC hierarchs to challenge my credentials.

It is baffling, yet so very typical that in so short a time after the attack on my credentials, what I was saying so fervently and passionately about, among other things, multiplication,...

...what I was CONDEMNED for...

...Chuck is now presenting as a fresh new vision...

...and a cornerstone of the hierarchs' new New Strategic Plan.

And, Chuck presents the vision as theirs so, well, shamelessly.

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But, Chuck, and Kevin...and Dave...

Understand this:

...the people of the ERC didn't just fall off of a tomato truck...

....and, you can't sell the Brooklyn Bridge to many of them.

The CGGC has had a Vision Statement promoting multiplication since 2009 and you have been hard-heartedly turning your noses up to it.

During much of that time, I've been condemning your insubordination to the authority of the CGGC Eldership and begging you to submit to the authority of the Eldership, represented in that Vision Statement.

And, now, suddenly...shamelessly...what you ignored is your newest plan to win the future.

You are truly and absolutely shameless...

...and many of the people of the ERC see that. And, they are cynical...

...and you have earned that response.

And, many of them aren't going to buy in...

...unless, of course,...

...you repent, confess your past sin...

...and beg the Lord and the people of the ERC for forgiveness of your sins.

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I asked the person who responded to my last post the rhetorical question, "Is it any wonder that there are cynics?"

Is it?

We must repent.

Friday, September 15, 2017

ERC DUMPS DIRECTOR OF CHURCH PLANTING POSITION!

You've got to watch the new ERC Strategic Plan video.

This one is the first of, apparently, two.

In it, Chuck Frank, the former ERC Director of Church Planting and Evangelism, introduces himself as the new ERC Director of Multiplication.

Just a few thoughts:

1. Chuck seems to be a devoted reader of this blog. His explanation of why the change from church planting to multiplication echoes what I've been writing here for years...

...IN FACT, CHUCK COULD VERY EASILY BE ACCUSED OF PLAGIARIZING THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG!

2. I'm reminded again, how far this blog is ahead of its CGGC time.

3. Still, like Dave Williams's videos, Chuck's is grooving on the hot idea of ten years ago. Chuck presents his as if the idea of multiplication is hot off the he press.

The truth is that multiplication has been the essence of the CGGC Vision Statement for almost a decade and Chuck's been ignoring it for all of that time.

It's hard to believe that Chuck's heart is in what he's saying now.

4. Have you noticed that it's now clear that the ERC hierarchs' idea that the same team that has lead the faster-than-ever decline, decay and putrefication of the past decade...

...Kevin, Dave and Chuck...

...is being dressed up in new sets of clothes, and unleashed on the ERC as its new leadership team.

Who thinks that's going to work?!

Sunday, September 10, 2017

"We're not much for Churches."

The decline in dad's health had us considering bringing in a home healthcare service because he required much more care than is available in assisted living.

So, with the blessing of the home, the family met with a representative from Senior Helpers.

The woman we met with was extremely nice and, I'd guess, between the ages of 25 and 30.

It turns out that she attended college in the town my parents lived in.

We were trying to explain to her where mom and dad's house was in the town.

Their house was near a large United Methodist church, that takes up a whole, very large, block in the town.

When mom suggested that landmark, the woman said, pleasantly but dismissively, "We're not much for churches," and moved the conversation on.

And, her attitude, that churches are entirely irrelevant to her life struck me as describing the plight of people who want to preserve and restore the church.

For many people in the millennial generation, churches are far less than an afterthought.

As Dan Kimball noted, can you believe, 10 years ago?, THEY LIKE JESUS, BUT NOT THE CHURCH.

Knowing the millennial generation as I do, I couldn't be more convinced that this new ERC New Strategic Plan will be an absolute disaster.

It contains nothing at all that will be meaningful to millennials.

I only wish that the hierarchs of the ERC were focused more on Jesus than they were on churches and pastors.

My Dad: Comfort Measures

I'm a geezer and, even at my advanced age, both of my parents are still living.

During my years as a parish priest in the CGGC, I saw many people die. There's a lot I know about death and dying.

And, I know that the laws and standards that guide medical professionals have changed.

What I am surprised about, as my dad's health declines, is that the PA who's caring for dad, has told us that because of the content of dad's Living Will, "comfort measures" are being put in place for dad's care.

I wasn't present for that conversation. I heard it from Evie who met with the PA along with my brother.

The whole family is on board with that decision so I don't know how things would be different if we were uncomfortable.

But, dad's wishes, expressed in his Living Will, rule.

He's been moved to a Skilled Nursing private room and put in bed.

He prefers to be still with his eyes closed, though he still does open his eyes and he mumbles or moans when spoken to.

He has no appetite and, as far as I know, no thirst.

His heart and lungs are healthy but his brain is shutting down.

It could be days, maybe a week, maybe more.

For the most part, he seems to have some awareness that he's dying.  He'll mumble things like, "I didn't think it would end this way."

Mom, who has moderate Alzheimer's and almost no memory, understands as well as her mind allows.

They are living in different rooms in the home. The staff of the home in her unit is marvellous.

I have a tough schedule at work this week and, of course, I am a manager. How well I'll meet my obligations to the job remains to be seen. I've talked to the manager who manages me. I've essentially told her what I'm going to do. I didn't ask.

For me, this emotional stuff takes a toll on me physically. And, I'm still struggling with vertigo--which probably is fruit of emotional stress and physical exhaustion.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

What I'm Hearing About the Strategic Plan

I'm picking up chatter from, to adopt Lew's adjective, the ERC 'subversives' who are still in touch with me, getting their takes on the new New ERC Strategic Plan as well as what they're hearing from others. And, I'm factoring that into my own perceptions.

Here are some thoughts:

Few, if any, are genuinely enthusiastic. Some like some parts of the plan but no one I know of thinks that this plan contains the answer to the ERC's woes.

No one I know of is convinced that Kevin is the person who should lead the ERC into the future. I think that there is the expectation that the hierarchs will give Kevin the first shot at leading the Conference after the Strategic Plan issue is resolved but no one I know of thinks Kevin will actually make a go of it.

No one thinks the plan is genuine leadership. People seem to be saying something like, the hierarchs held those meetings to hear what the attenders desire so the hierarchs could appear to be leading when, in reality, the plan is, what?, enabling? the very dysfunction that has been driving the ERC's demise.

No one thinks this is a good plan. This is not to say that they won't become convinced after the hierarchs present the plan to groups of pastors later on but, for now, people are lukewarm at best about the quality of the plan.

The cynics are, as far as I can tell, unmoved. There may be a time when I write a post on who I think the cynics are and how they came to be, but, for now, I'll say--again--that a significant number of pastors and churches in the ERC have no intention of participating with the hierarchs in the new plan. They've ignored the movings and shakings of the ERC institutionalists in Harrisburg since before I entered the Conference in the 1970s and they are not considering repenting of their cynicism over this plan. AND, I'm picking up no intelligence that suggests that Kevin or the other hierarchs are genuinely reaching out to the people who ignore them.

(Remember, my take on cynicism in the CGGC notes that the cynicism goes in every direction and that the hierarchs are as cynical toward the people on the other side of the gulf as the cynics are of them.)

The worst thing for the future of the ERC is that the plan will be presented and accepted without serious challenge. If that happens, the new New Strategic Plan will certainly end up being, again, only words on a page. What has always happened in the ERC is that people outside of the circle of the hierarchs exercise a perverted sense of submission. It works this way: They blandly vote, Yay, for anything the hierarchs want...but without any intention of following the hierarchs' plan. That's what I think happened with the unanimous adoption of the old New Strategic Plan in 2015. It's how the ERC has worked for a longer time than I know. If it happens again, I suspect that the ERC's sunk. There's not much time left.

Even people fairly far up the ERC mountain are, at best, unenthusiastic about Dave Williams's Safe Space Connextion groups. Based on chatter I'm picking up, even from people who are far from cynical, the reviews of this key element of the plan are lukewarm. I'm hearing, from these people, that they will certainly participate at the beginning and give these groups a chance but they're not excited about the outline of what will be taking place...and they don't see these groups transforming the failing fortunes of the Conference. And, remember: This feedback is coming from people who are a fair distance up the ERC mountain.

To personalize ERC dynamics, the way the hierarchs handled me and the ministry at Faith hurts the ability of the hierarchs to lead the whole Conference. I am not a cynic. I don't perversely submit to the hierarchs by nodding and voting, Yay, and then doing nothing so that their best laid plans end up merely being words on a page. And, the hierarchs crushed me, and the ministry I participate in, like a stink bug. What's the message in that to the significant number of pastors and churches in the Conference who stubbornly and silently ignore Conference leadership when they try to lead? The message is that the hierarchs prefer cynicism...that if you are honest about your beliefs and feelings, and express your reservations, you may run the risk of being crushed like a bug, as was I. In the way the hierarchs handled me and the ministry at Faith, they were endorsing cynicism and the cynics' perverse submission.

I used Lew's word, subversive, at the beginning of the post with intention. People like me and people in touch with me are, too easily, understood to be evil and enemies among the hierarchs and their friends. This attitude among hierarchs is a serious leadership problem.

Millennials! None of the chatter I'm picking up suggests that the new New Strategic Plan will solve the problem the ERC is having in developing a ministry that reaches people under the age of 40. People I'm hearing from are concerned about the need for their churches to engage younger adults and their families but they see nothing in the plan to assist them in doing that.

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So, that's a fairly comprehensive summary of the word that's coming to me.

We must repent.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

My Dad: Slipping into the Final Stage of Dementia

Over the course of the last week, my dad's mental health has deteriorated remarkably.

He sleeps almost all of the time. His brain no longer understands hunger or thirst. He's losing weight even when he's fed and was dehydrated yesterday.

It's not clear that he recognizes us.

Yet, his heart and lungs are remarkably healthy for a man of his age.

It's heartbreaking to see him in this state. We're making decisions about his care, not knowing if he'll be like this for days or if he will linger.

Sometimes, people continue in this state for more than a year.

The emotional toll of this is unbelievable for the family, though mom, in the midst of her own journey with dementia, doesn't seem to grasp the reality of dad's decline.

It's surprising to know how many people have had this experience with their own parents and can be sympathetic.